Meet My-Shell, My "Anchor," My Friend Who's Going to Help Me Lose Weight

An·chor (ngkr)
n.
1. Nautical A heavy object attached to a vessel by a cable or rope and cast overboard to keep the vessel in place either by its weight or by its flukes, which grip the bottom.
2. A rigid point of support, as for securing a rope.
3. A source of security or stability.

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Sometimes, I start an eating plan and I hold fast to it. Until someone mentions "Hey, how about lunch at Puerto Vallarta?" --Or "Panera" or "Q Doba" or "Subway" or "Anywhere."

And then I forget who I am, where I live, what I weigh or what I want to weigh. Heck, I even forget I'm married and often find myself proposing to the nachos in front of me.

Or sometimes, I eat off-plan for emotional reasons, like feeling happy, sad, or conscious.

I decided last week that what I need is an "anchor," some tangible object to securely attach me to my goal, so to speak.

And so, to symbolize the goal of having a beach body ready by late June, I've started toting around a shell, which I have dubbed "Myshell" because that is cutesy.

So Myshell sits on my desk at work, on the breakfast bar at home or on the computer desk at home because those are the usual settings for my bouts of flagrant hedonism. And I carry it in my purse, yes I do.

Having an anchor invites questions and doubts.

Jorge saw it and said, "You're not seriously going to cart that thing around with you wherever you go, are you?"

Well, if I wasn't, I would most definitely be after that wet-blanket, doubt-casting remark.

Even my boss stopped by my desk the other day and asked "how the shell is working out." I know he thinks I'm nuts most of the time. He has learned to just go with the flow better than Jorge has.

And so my purse has been a little heavier the last few days. And sometimes my keys get stuck in Myshell or pieces of gum or receipts fall into the crevices.

But it's working so far. When I remember to LOOK at her. It's amazing how soon we adjust to our surroundings and overlook things we think we wouldn't.

There's a lesson in that, but I don't feel like pontificating today, so you connect the dots.

Anyway, that's the story of Myshell and how I'll probably end up on Oprah when I lose so much weight that the world can't believe it was all due to plain little seashell.

If you were going to utilize the anchor theory in your life right now, what object would you choose and why?